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EXAMINER – Sophie Cookson plays Roxy in “Kingsman: The Secret Service” out this Friday. The film tells the story of a spy organization which recruits an unrefined, but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. We were on the red carpet for the film’s New York premiere on Feb. 9 at the School of Visual Arts Theater, where we spoke with Sophie exclusively.

We loved your character in the film. Can you talk about what it was like playing a very strong, independent female role in this film?
It’s incredibly exciting when you read a script, sometimes waiting for the woman to fall in love with the man and then you see it never happens, so it is just brilliant. There is obviously a base for that, but Roxy, she keeps her femininity as well. She doesn’t try to be one of the boys and be androgynous, she sticks to her roots and what she believes in and that makes her a character that you want to invest in eventually.

And this movie is a spy movie, so in your opinion, what makes this different from other spy and action movies?
Matthew Vaughn. Matthew Vaughn is an absolute genius. His is such a perfectionist and he just wants to push boundaries but also he makes a film that he would want to see and that’s what’s exciting. I think sometimes it is very easy to people please and you have to get so many stunts in, the sequences are so long as well for some of them. And seeing Colin Firth as an action hero is something that needs to be watched again and again and again.

Taron, you studied stage combat at RADA. Did that help prepare you for Kingsman: The Secret Service?
TE: You are talking rapier and dagger. Compared to Kingsman, it’s small fry. The expectations for this film were so high that nothing could have prepared me, really. It was a total rehaul of the way I moved and felt. But if you are playing someone who has to save the world, you do have to have a bit of muscle tone, don’t you?

How did you go about that transformation?
TE: It was difficult to begin with. Dropping the fat, putting on muscle … all of that is really hard if you haven’t done it before. It gets easier. And ultimately it’s very rewarding. But you do put yourself though a lot of pain to get yourself into that kind of shape.

What surprised you the most?
TE: Watching my body transform because it’s not something I ever imagined it could do — to completely change. Locked in a vault somewhere are some before and after photos. And they will never be seen by anyone.

Sophie, tell me about the vomit comet.
SC: NASA use it to train their astronauts for anti-gravity training. It’s vile. And it really does live up to its name.

Your character, Roxy, is afraid of heights. Do you also suffer from vertigo?
SC: Before I made this film, I loved swimming and I had no fear of heights whatsoever. But post filming, I definitely think differently about swimming underwater and being in planes. When you are left dangling in the air between shots, while everyone else is getting on with their life and you are up amongst the clouds, it’s a scary, lonely thing.

INSTYLE – Director Matthew Vaughn has a track record for turning under-the-radar actors into overnight stars. He was the one who put a pre-Bond Daniel Craig on the map in Layer Cake and launched Chloe Moretz as the tiny, foul-mouthed Hit Girl in Kick Ass. So when Vaughn picked an unknown actress called Sophie Cookson to play the lead role in his new film Kingsman: The Secret Service – despite Harry Potter star Emma Watson being widely tipped for the part – there was understandable buzz.

As I watch Sophie Cookson slip onto a banquette opposite me at Soho restaurant Dean Street Townhouse, it’s hard to ignore a few striking similarities to the world-famous actress she beat to the part. Like Watson she is fine-featured, petite, with drama school vowels, and in today’s chic high-necked dark floral dress and oversized scarf there’s an undeniable ‘poised young Brit thesp’ vibe to her. Did she know she had such high profile competition when she auditioned? “Not a clue” she says, shooting me a thank-god-for-that look “it would have really piled on the pressure.”

Kingsman is a gloriously silly James Bond spoof created by Vaughn with the screenwriter Jane Goldman; every bit as brilliant as the pair’s 2010 cult hit Kick Ass. 24-year-old Cookson – who plays new agency recruit Roxy – has a handful of previous credits to her name, including a part in Sky miniseries Moonfleet with Ray Winstone, but Kingsman is the film that will put her on the map when it hits cinemas this week. So who exactly is this girl who sprung from nowhere to score one of the hottest movie roles of the year? We settled in with a mint tea and quizzed her to find out.

How does it feel to be in a movie with all these massive stars?
“Just so surreal. The big one for me was Michael Caine. I remember shooting a scene with him in this tiny library and thinking, ‘my grandmother would have loved this.’”

Who are you taking as your plus one to the premiere?
“Oh don’t, it’s a political nightmare! My Dad keeps emailing going ‘well I can do this date, and this date and this date’, I’m like ‘um, I didn’t invite you yet!’”

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YAHOO – Taron Egerton and Sophie Cookson are the bright young talents starring in Kingsman: The Secret Service. The action-spy film sees them co-starring alongside Colin Firth, Michael Caine and Samuel L. Jackson — not bad for a couple of recent drama school graduates!

FAMOUS caught up with Taron and Sophie during their visit to Sydney.

How does it feel to work with award-winning actors so early on in your careers?Taron: It’s all down hill from here mate! [Laughs]
Sophie: How do you up from there?Taron: I guess everyone’s now becoming aware of the film with all the promotion, but we’ve had 18 months to process it. It’s surreal. We’re actors, you know, and of course we have all of that respect and admiration for them, but ultimately there comes a point where you have to just get down to it and make some movies.

Were the cast what you expected them to be in real life and did they give you much advice?Sophie: I didn’t really expect anything. I went in with complete open-minded because as soon as you start having any expectations of what it’s going to be like you are disappointed or it throws you off a bit. But they were just as nice as I hoped. Colin Firth is the gentleman you think he is. There was no lecturing or anything, it was all quite seamless.Taron: Don’t fart in interviews, that kind of thing [laughs]. They were all very lovely. You expect to see the personas they present to the world, but then they also have their private personas. I guess we were able to see a little more of their private selves – everybody was as nice as I’d hoped.

Are you both thrill seekers like your characters in the film?Sophie: Oh, no no! If you asked me to jump out of a plane, I’d pay you any amount not to. I like being physical but not like that.Taron: I’m not like that at all. I really enjoyed the experience of doing it but when I left drama school, I did not envisage action! But it was great fun and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

A priest, jailed for the murder of a nun thought to be possessed, after she dies during the exorcism. A journalist delves into the story to try to determine what really happened and if the priest killed a mentally ill nun or lost the battle with a demonic entity.

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